Slow start dooms Waynesburg in loss to No. 1 Avonworth
WASHINGTON – Perry Cunningham realized for his Waynesburg Central baseball team to have a chance at pulling an upset of top-seeded Avonworth it would need to keep the game close.
“They’re the No. 1 seed for a reason, so we knew we had to minimize the big innings,” said the Raiders’ second-year coach. “Unfortunately, right out of the gate they put up a four spot.”
The Antelopes rode their early 4-0 lead to a 6-0 victory in the WPIAL Class 3A first-round playoff game at Ross Memorial Park.
After Avonworth starting pitcher Cooper Scharding retired Waynesburg (7-13) in order in the top of the first, the Antelopes opened the bottom of the inning against CJ Corvin with a single by Scharding and a Raiders error. Case Latore and Jack Dolan followed with a two-run triple and an RBI double and two batters later Sam Hustwit hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.
The Antelopes would only manage five more hits the rest of the game, but their pitching limited Waynesburg to a pair of doubles, one each by Grant Pack and Kory Taylor, to help them stay in control and advance to next Tuesday’s quarterfinals against No. 9 Charleroi.
“We knew the margin for error was going to be small,” said Cunningham, whose team handed second-seeded Seton LaSalle its lone Section 4 loss of the season. “We knew we were going to have to obviously get more than two hits. Credit to their guys. Their arms came in and they threw the ball really well, spotted up and had some velo and had good secondary off-speed pitches, too, and gave our guys some trouble.”
Scharding took a no-hitter into the fourth that was broken up by Pack’s two-out double to right field but he got a fly out to end his final inning of work. Scharding allowed the one hit and no walks with seven strikeouts in his four innings.
Finishing up the shutout for Avonworth were Nathan Slater, who struck out one in tossing a 1-2-3 fifth, and Carson Franc, who gave up only Taylor’s hard-hit, two-out double to left-center in the sixth in working the final two frames with three strikeouts.
Corwin pitched admirably against the Section 2 champion Antelopes (16-5), surrendering six runs, only three of which were earned, on eight hits in five innings.
“That’s what we saw all year from him quite honestly, he battled and grinded,” Cunningham said. “When I made my mound visit in the first inning I asked our catcher if we were missing location and he said no, they’re just barreling baseballs that were on the corners, and some of those were even off the plate.
“I said alright then we better start going with a different plan and start moving in.”
Avonworth parlayed an error, a triple by Scharding and a single by Nick Blackson into a pair of insurance runs in the fourth inning.
“That was the key,” Cunningham said. “They would get runners on and move them around and we were struggling to get anyone on base.”
Austin Surber relieved Corwin and pitched a scoreless sixth inning with two strikeouts.
“I don’t think our guys were overwhelmed or intimidated,” Cunningham said. “They competed hard, they didn’t back down from the challenge. They just ran into a better team.”
The Raiders had their moments. Catcher Taylor threw out Avonworth’s Newton Coffey trying to steal second to end the fourth inning. Waynesburg second baseman Jarret Tretinik turned a double play with shortstop Surber to thwart an Antelope rally in the fifth. Tretinik was the only runner besides Pack and Taylor to reach second base when he was hit by a pitch and stole second base in the third.
It was the final game for Waynesburg seniors Corwin, Taylor, Surber, Jeffery Blair, Hayden Field and Brendan Cole.
“We’ve got six seniors and a number of them have been here for four years,” Cunningham said. “I told them I’m proud of them and, as I always say in these year-end conversations, there’s a lot of life lessons that baseball can provide us, like accountability, discipline, attention to detail, dealing with failure, that they’re going to encounter in their life, whether it’s with their jobs or their families.
“Even though our journey as a baseball team ends today and these 19 guys will never be on the field together again, they can still be friends and teammates the rest of their lives.”